Prefabricated building and building construction



ATTORNEYS.'

Feb. 28, 1939.I A J, A. NEwLlN ET Al.

PREFABRICATED BUILDING AND BUILDING CONSTRUCTION Filed Nov. 28', 193s Patented Feb. 2s, 1939 PATENT OFFICE PREFABRICATED BUILDING AND BUnLnlNGI .coNsraUc'noN l John A. Newlin, Madison, wis., and George w.

Trayer, Alexandria, Va., dedicated to thevfree use of the Public in the Territory ofthe .United States of America Application November 28, 1936, Serial No. 113,236

1 Claim.

(Granted under the act of March 3, 1883, as vamended April 30, 1928; 370 0. G. 757) This application is made -under the act of March 3, 1883, as amended by the act of April 30, 1928, and, thev invention herein described, if patented, may be manufactured and used by or for the Government for governmental purposes, withoutrthe payment to us of any royalty thereon.-

We hereby dedicate thev invention herein described to the free use of the Public in the territory of the United States of America to take effect upon the granting of a patent to us.

This invention pertains to wood buildings in which the structural units are so built and so combined as vto reduce the labor and time of erection or assembly of the buildings. The structural units consist of wood or building board panels, which may be made up in one of anyA number of Ways, and splines and Amullions. In -the description in this patent application, we have chosen to use panels of the stressed covering type, although we do not limit thescope of our patent to theuse of this type of panel.

By panels of the stressed-coveringV type, We

g mean panels `which 'are comprised .of a wood framework Qto which are glued, .with casein or other .suitable glue, covering plates,l which may'` Y The wall'panels in Fig. 1 are constructed in the be sheetslof' plywood or` building board of suitl' as stressed-'covering panels vbecause any load appliedto a panel of this type is sofdistributed that the cover plates carry a large proportion of the load. Thisunity-of action is'due to the'complete and continuous rigid joint formed'by the glue.

between the framework and thecover plates.

The' panels are joined. together -by meanseof the mullions and, splineswhich are so grooved and so designed-:that 'the panels may be fitted together at the time of erectionwithout alteraf tions. The-obvious methodof accomplishing this is to prefabricate the panels, mullions, and splines in afactory leaving only the assembling to be done at the site of erection.

Our invention canA best be described by referringto Figures 1 to 4 `which are illustrations of.

the units and the vmethods of combining them.

Fig. 1 is an isometric view showing an assembled section .of a typical wood building comprising stressed-covering roof, floor, and' wall panels,

framework I, to which are glued, with casein or l other suitable glue, the upper 2, and the lower 3, cover plates which-may be sheets of plywood "or building board -of suitable structural properties to form what is virtually a. box girder. Within the. panels a blanket type insulation 4 may be attached with batten strips 5, as illustrated, or the space may be lled with loose insulation material. Lateral edges of the'panels are provided with grooves 6, to provide space for a spline 1.

The' roof panels I6, are made upin the same manner as are the fioor'panels I5. The wood framework l1, has glued to it upper cover plate I8, and lower cover plate-I9. The blanket type insulation 20, is held in place by hatten strips 2i. 'Ihe lateral edges of the panels are provided with grooves 22 to` accommodate splines 23. `This form of construction is further illustrated in Figure 4,*in which the joist-like lateral edges of ,two adjacent roof panels are 26, one of 'the grooves is 21, and the spline is 28'.

'same manner as the floor and roof panels except `that the framework is made up of lighter members 8, and the coverplates 9, are thinner. The thickness of the framework of these wallpanels is largely governed by the type of doors vand windows used in the structure. d Top and bottoni members of the panel 'framework as well as the end vertical members are set in from the edges of theplywood faces in order to provide the structural jjoints which will be described later.A 'I'he vspaces between the framework may "be lled with loose .insulation material I0, or with the blanket type asis illustrated in the floor and roof Adjacent wall panels are connected by means of mullions. A typical 3^piece mullion is A, Figure 1, and a typical solid mullion is B, Figure 2. Grooves. 25, in mullion B are typical for places where the wall panel cover plates 9, project from both adjacent wall panels. A typical construction where window and door Iframes appear, is shown in Figure 3. 'I'he two grooves 29, on the window side of mullion D, extend up only to the bottom of the grooves 30 in the window sill C. One of these two groovesv 29 is not shown in Figure'3 but it is positioned at the back of the mullion corresponding to that of the other one y at the front of the mullion.. The two dowels 3|, serve to position the mullion and sill and to join laid flat on the foundation posts ,and piece I2, is

placed, on edge, on piece I I and fastened therein. Piece I2 is provided with a rabbet 24, on the inside upper edge, of proper size and shape to permit a suitable junction and fit between the inner cover plates 9, of the wall panels andjthe upper cover plates 2. of the iloor panels. No rabbet is needed on the outside face ofpiece I2, since-the outer cover plates 9.0i the wall panels rest on top of the water table 32. While the oor panels would normally be placed on the sills before the wall panels are erected, the construction illustrated and described permits the placement and removal, as for repairs, of the iioor panels independently of the wall panels.'

The mullions such as the one illustrated in Fig. i (A), and the extending cover plates of the wall panels fit over the sill piece I2, and the panels are fastened by screws or nails I3, thereto. Similarly, the top edges of the wall panels receive andare fastened by screws or nails I3, to

Y- a wood strip I, securely fastened to the roof panels along the wall and partition lines.

The plywood edges of the' adjacent wall panels 9, are fitted into the parallel grooves in the mullion A. The edges of the plywood 9, may be coated with a. mastic before assembling them to protect them from moisture and to prevent air infiltration.

The general idea behind prefabricated buildings is to put the diiilcult and intricate part of the work inside the factory, thus reducing the time and expense of assembly on the site to a minimum and providing the'masses of the population with acceptable low-cost housing. This can be accomplished in numerous ways by using several types of fundamental construction panels and methods of connecting them. However, we havein this patent application preferred todescribe a panel of the stressed-covering type and a joint system consisting of mulllons, splines, and sills. I

'We have found that this'particular construction lends itself remarkably Well to prefabrication by actual experience in erecting a building.

'Ihe system herein described is superior because the units are simple and readily made with accuracy in a factory; and because the stressedcovering panels are inherently strong and rigid the floors and walls of the building can be made thinner and consequently much lighter than walls and oors made by ordinary wood frame construction. This, ofy course, is an advantage in prefabrication because of the economy in materials and because of the storage and transportation problems involved.

With this unit type construction, it is a simple matter to obtain iiexibility of design by varying the size of the fundamental units or by arranging the existing units in various combinations.

The simplicity of the mullion system of connecting the panels reduces the labor cost and the time of erection.

We choose to use plywood for the panel cover plates 2, 3, 9, I8, and I9, because its structural properties are suitable, it results in light weight construction and eliminates. the necessity for other interior and exterior wall, oor and ceiling coverings.

Having fullyv described our invention, we claim:

A prefabricated building structure having inwardly rabbeted wooden sills with horizontal and vertical longitudinal ribs, a iloor of stressedcovering panels and splines resting on and supported by the horizontal ribs of the rabbeted portion of the sills, walls of stressed-covering panels and mullions tting over and supported by the vertical surface of the rabbetecl portion of the sills, and a ceiling of stressed-covering panels and splines resting on and supported by the walls.

JOHN A. NEWLIN.

GEORGE W. mm. 

